Blitzkrieg no Shingeki
by Scarlette Shizuru
Summary: -REBOOT- Levi and his team are sent beyond the walls under the guise of training Eren. However, he realizes that Erwin has a bigger motive as he finds five soldiers in the lands near Wall Maria with skills and weaponry he had only seen in a select few. Rated T for Bryan's swearing. I don't own Beyblade and Shingeki no Kyojin!
1. Warriors in the Forest

When it came to Erwin's orders, Levi often followed them without problems. Although, he did give his suggestions every now and then when asked.

However, the request Erwin gave him this time perplexed him.

While waiting in the meeting room of the Special Operations team, he looked over the reports that Erwin left with him. As he flipped through the papers, there were some recurring descriptions he saw.

"Black hoods… strange weapons… no 3D Maneuver Gear," he continued breezing through them. "Killing titans without 3D Maneuver Gear. High athletic ability… disappear into thin air… Where did these people come from?"

According to the reports, there were five black hoods that appeared at the borders of Wall Rose. When Abberant Titans would approach the walls and the Garrisons didn't move quick enough, these black hoods would appear and shred the titans. While a part of him wanted to believe it was an understatement, the description had added that nothing remained of the titans except a mass of scarred tissue. After that, they would leave as if nothing had happened.

"How in the world do they cover that distance?" Levi pursed his lips and continued glancing through the reports. "They would need something to help them get up there. But there's no mention of that here whatsoever…"

Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door.

"Permission to enter?" A female voice asked outside the door.

"Granted." Levi placed the report on the table next to him.

Once the door opened, he saw the members of the Special Operations Team enter the room. They were the Legion's best; Petra Rall, the small brunette who scored the highest amount of over-all kills, Oluo, a tall, cravat-wearing male scored the highest amount of solo kills in the team, Gunther, a stout and stumpy dark haired male with the highest amount of assists and then there was Eld, blonde and stocky with the second highest amount of assists.

"Good, you're all here." Levi beckoned all of them to sit down, noticing that one was missing. "Where's Eren?"

"Bathroom, sir." Gunther leaned against his interlocked fingers. "He said he'll be here shortly."

"Tell him to get here. We need him for this."

Eld raised an eyebrow. "Captain, if you don't mind me asking, where are we going?"

Levi nodded. "Erwin wants us to investigate a forest down south near Wall Maria."

Suddenly, the door opened with Eren coming in. "Sorry for being late, _heichou_."

"It's fine, we just started. Take a seat." Levi pulled out a rolled up paper before laying out, revealing a map. "Erwin wants us to travel here," he pointed to a large area.

"That's a large area to scout, _heichou_." Petra looked at the area. "Isn't that also the forest with ridiculously large trees?"

"Exactly. We're planning to train there. Erwin wants our team in top shape before he executes the expedition next week."

"Wouldn't it be better if we had more people though?"

"We would but Erwin gave us a specific role: to protect Eren. And the best way we can do that, is to figure out the landscape."

Gunther nodded. "When do we leave?"

Captain Levi looked at the members of his squad. All hand-picked for one role: keeping Eren in check. After all, the last time Eren lost control, things don't look pretty. He still could see the marks on their thumbs. It was something they all shared after Eren had mistakenly used his power to pick up a spoon. But even he had to admit, Eren had gotten better. Not good enough for team runs but at least good enough to punch a thing or two. Levi then rolled up the map.

"We leave now."

* * *

All members of the Special Operations team set out on their horses. Levi led the charge and glanced every now and then at the members who followed behind him. He pursed his lips for a moment, wondering what Erwin wanted him to do. He had specifically chosen their team, personally delivered the request, and even gave him the files. However, he also specifically told him not to tell his team what was going on and just go in under the guise of a training exercise.

_Erwin, what are you up to?_

Levi spurred his horse on as they made their way to the forest. Eren stayed in the middle of the formation, adjusting his horse's speed as he saw fit. Eld, Gunther, Petra, and Oluo formed a diamond around him with him leading point and Eld being right behind him.

"Sir, permission to speak?" Eld rode up next to Levi.

Levi nodded.

"When did Commander Erwin give you the request?"

"Last night."

"Must be important for him to suddenly give it to you without telling anyone else."

"Definitely."

"Did he explain it to you though, sir?"

"Not much. He just told me the same thing I told you: bring Eren to the forests to train tomorrow."

Eld raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't have Commander Hange be interested in Eren's progress as well? Why wasn't she included?"

Levi shrugged. But he knew that Eld had begun to catch on that this was no ordinary training exercise. After all, Eld was one of the next in line to become commander. He had been upgraded also as captain and was being prepared to lead his own squad. _Good thing I managed to get him before he decided on a roster, _Levi thought.

"We're here!" He heard Gunther call out.

Levi looked up to see the forest coming up close. Once he saw the ridiculously large trees, he spurred his horse on forward. His horse whinnied and lunged forward with the rest of the team following behind him.

"Stay close and whatever you do, don't do anything stupid." Levi glanced back at them. "Got it?"

The whole team nodded. "Yes captain!"

Levi nodded stiffly and turned back to where he was going. Suddenly, he heard loud footsteps. He quickly jerked the reins of his horse and forced it to stop, causing the rest of the team to forcibly stop behind him. The other horses began to whinny and throw their heads, staggering back. He could hear their worried whinnies and the panicked stomps of their hooves. He searched the vicinity, looking up and down for any titan. _I could have sworn I heard footsteps_, Levi's eyes rolled left and right.

"Captain!" He heard Petra's panicked scream.

He looked forward to see a titan rushing towards him on all four limbs. He quickly pulled out his blades and fired out his hook, simultaneously spurring his horse to move away. The team soon followed suit with their hooks firing onto the trees and pulling themselves away with their horses scattering. The titan crashed down on the spot with its gaping mouth, staring at them with glee.

_Crap,_ Levi berated himself. He quickly launched himself to tear through the titan but someone beat him to it. He saw exactly what the files had described: a black hood with a sword. In one smooth and swift motion, the black hood tore off the titan's nape. The titan groaned before the black hood swung back and sprung off the titan's back before jamming its blade into head. The titan roared in pain as the black hood pulled out his sword and sprung off the titan. The titan fell down onto a crumpled heap as blood poured from its nape and head.

"C-Captain?" Petra trembled. "What was that?"

Levi didn't grace her with an answer. Instead, he began searching for the black hood. _Where did he go_? His eyes darted around. Suddenly, he heard a branch crack.

"Special Operations Team, change in objective: track down a figure in a black hood. Once you find it, engage and disarm. But do not kill!" Levi launched himself off the branch. "I'll corner it!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Levi launched himself off the branch and towards where he heard the sound. Soon, he found the black hood weaving through the branches. Once he got a closer look, he saw that the sword was twice his size. It was large and the black hood was only using one hand! He blinked in surprise and then shook off his astonishment before continuing his pursuit. He dove after the figure before throwing a hook up ahead to swing back. He then landed a kick on the black hood who managed to block it with his sword.

"Who are you?" Levi glared. "And where are you from?"

The black hood didn't say anything and lowered his sword. "Isn't it rude to kick and demand the name of the person who saved your team's ass?"

"That depends on who I'm thanking."

"Well, a thank you regardless would be appreciated!"

Suddenly, they heard something slam on the tree trunk. They quickly jumped out to see that it was Eld who had slammed into the wall.

"Eld!?" Levi blinked in surprise.

He looked up to see another black hood standing on another branch a few meters away from Gunther. _Shit, they're two of them!? _He also saw that the other black hood looked bigger than the one he pursued and had two of the same blades that his pursuit had.

_What are they!?_ He thought and heard something hum behind him. He quickly spun around and let the blade slam into his. Levi's knees nearly buckled from the weight of the blow and he visibly saw a crack appear on his blade. His eyes widened; he had enough strength to crack the blade!? He also saw the sleeves of the black hood slightly roll up only to see a thin, lean, pale arm stick out.

Levi backed off and landed on another branch. "Where in the world is he getting the strength to swing that sword?"

The black hood lunged at him again with the large sword suddenly whistling and whipping. Levi quickly leaped back as he watched the blade come down. He twisted his body last minute to avoid the incoming blade. He gawked. How did the black hood make such a large blade whip like a snake? It didn't make that much sense to him! However, he didn't have much time to think as he leaped away from another attack.

_I hope the others are faring better, _Levi looked back. His eyes widened when suddenly three more black hoods appeared from above the trees. There were a short one and two medium-sized ones. The tallest black hood chased after Gunther and Eld. Petra had one of the medium-sized ones chase after her. Same with Oluo. The smallest one chased after Eren. Levi bristled and looked back towards the black hood that had been chasing him.

"There's five of you." Levi glared. "That would explain a lot."

The black hood chuckled. "We've been doing this for years. Who are you morons supposed to be?"

"That's what we're hoping to ask you. I can't even see your face."

"Well, that's the point. We don't want to be known. We don't know who you're with."

Levi bit his lip. "Call off your friends."

"What makes you think I'm the leader?"

"I've got a good hunch."

"You're either that damn good at guessing or I'm that obvious. Either way, it makes me look bad."

Levi raised an eyebrow. "So, are you going to call them off or not?"

The black hood shrugged. "Why don't we watch them for a bit? It's been a while since a bunch of humans showed up in our forest with the intent to kill."

Levi bristled at the black hood's words. He then turned towards the branches where he saw Eld and Gunther trying to take down the biggest black hood. The biggest one stood tall at a good six feet based on what he could eyeball. His eyes widened when the black hood caught both Eld's and Gunther's blades with his bare hands. Their eyes visibly widened and the big black hood didn't even show signs of struggling no matter how hard they pushed their blades. Once the black hood caught both blades, he crushed them in his hands. The two oldest members of the Special Operations squad stumbled back and the black hood threw away the crushed debris of the blade before whirling around and kicking them into the tree trunk with a loud thud.

He glanced at Petra who struggled against another black hood. He looked approximately the same height as his opponent but he appeared to be faster. He weaved and dodged her attacks before Levi saw a flash knock away Petra's blade. The female yelped and leaped away from the branch, pulling out another set of blades from her holder. However, the black hood quickly kicked both blades and revealed a blade shooting out from his sleeve. She yelped as she was backed into a tree trunk with the blade inches away from her throat.

Levi glanced towards Eren who had the smallest black hood but wielded the same sword as the others. He didn't notice his movements become more erratic as he suddenly reappeared right under Eren's chin and bludgeoned him with the butt end of the hilt. Eren stumbled back when the smallest hood closed in on him again and kicked him in the stomach. As Eren stumbled back, the smallest one pinned him to the ground with the tip of his blade inches away from Eren's throat.

_Who are these people?_ Levi glanced back at his opponent who hadn't moved but instead continued to watch his allies.

Oluo seemed to be the unluckiest one out of all of them. His opponent although wielding the same sword as his other companions chased him relentlessly. Sometimes, Levi would see two black hoods appear at the same time, making it as if Oluo were fighting two people instead of one. _Is that how fast he is?_ Levi shook his head. That kind of speed was inhuman! Oluo suddenly got clobbered with a mean right hook as he slammed into the tree trunk, staggering back. Levi even saw that the black hood had drawn blood from Oluo.

"We've seen enough." Levi glared at the black hood before pointing his blade towards his opponent's neck. "Call them—"

Before he could finish his statement, the four black hoods suddenly appeared near him with their swords pointed at him. Their edges were posted at different parts of his body. The shortest one had his blade by his legs, two had their blades at his neck, and the biggest one looked like he was going to cleave him in half. Levi's eyes darted when his own team gawked and froze in horror.

"I think they've had enough. Back down." His opponent chuckled and pulled off his hood. "They've seen enough."

Levi blinked when the other hoods lowered their swords. One by one, they also began to lower their hoods. Each of them had looked so different that he never had seen people like them.

The smallest figure's most prominent feature was his nose. He had a long nose with a high bridge. He had short, dark violet hair that had been ruffled upwards while wearing goggles to hold his hair up. A part of him was glad however that this member was shorter than him. But based on what he saw when he observed his match up with Eren, he moved as if he had no bones! He could contort himself in all sorts of directions as if he didn't have a single bone in his body.

Next to the smallest member was the tallest one. The tallest one had a stocky build; wide shoulders and all. He had a square jaw and golden blonde hair with bright blue eyes. _Reminds me of Erwin_, he thought. But the black shroud he wore draped from his shoulders even seemed to short for him, revealing some boots underneath.

The one next to him was slightly shorter than him. He had thistle colored hair almost borderline silver. He had storm grey eyes with a cocky smirk on his face. _So this is the guy who slugged Oluo,_ Levi noted when he saw a bit of blood smeared on the young man's knuckles. He stood slightly smaller than the blonde, also having a strong build.

The last one was smaller than him but stood at the same height and body build as his opponent. He had two colors for hair: silver blue and black. But he had piercing blood-red eyes and fair skin. However, the more he stared into the blood-red eyes, the more he felt his soul being shredded to pieces. He shuddered slightly as a knot twisted around his stomach.

Finally, he saw the leader. The leader – his opponent – had bright red hair as if he had dyed it in tomato juice. He had piercing ice-blue eyes and cream white skin. Levi blinked. Where did this kind of human come from? Did he not go under the sun? What place in the world could barely be touched by the sun? There were so many questions but he had no idea where to start.

"Whoa!" Eren gawked. "Are you even human!?"

Levi resisted the urge to facepalm. _Of all the questions Eren had to ask, he asked that one!?_

"Yeah we are." The red-headed male chuckled. "What brings you guys all the way here to the forest?"

"The better question is who are you and why are you here?" Oluo pointed his blade at the red-headed male. "What are you?"

When Oluo pointed his blade at the red-headed male, the thistle haired one suddenly appeared behind Oluo with his own blade inches away from his throat. Levi's eyes widened when he saw the gap between him and Oluo. _How on earth did he cover that distance so quickly_, he thought. He looked around the forest for any form of assistance but none. It was as if he just flew over in an instant.

"We get you have a lot of questions but you can't just bombard us because you want to." The red-headed male shook his head and waved his hand. "You can put your sword down now. If he does something stupid, I know what to do."

The thistle haired male bristled at Oluo and stepped back. "He tries again: his head comes off."

Levi, seeing that the thistle haired one looked far less restrained than the others, immediately stepped forward. "We're soldiers from the city sent out to kill Titans."

"See? Now that wasn't so hard now was it?" The red-headed male chuckled and folded his arms. "Since you kindly introduced yourselves, we'll introduce ourselves. We're Russians."

Eren blinked. "Russians?"

"More like four and a half Russians." The thistle haired male sniggered.

The two-toned haired male scoffed. "I don't think they even know what Russians are."

"Forget it." Levi shook his head and glowered at the red-headed male. "I'm looking for names."

Seeing the other soldier glare at him amused him. Tala glanced at the other soldiers and then looked at their weapons. _Their weapons don't look like much_, he pursed his lips. He then watched the expression of each soldier. When he looked at them, their expressions were good enough for Tala to realize: they absolutely had _no idea_ what a Russian person was. However, he did a good headcount and reflected on what the other soldier had said: they were sent out to kill titans. _A small team meaning an elite team_, he mused to himself. And when he took a good look in their eyes, he already knew.

"The name's Tala." He bowed lightly with a smirk. "These guys" – he pointed to his teammates – "are my brothers. I am the captain of the Blitzkrieg team."

Bryan scoffed. "Since when?"

Tala pouted. "Since now."

"Suuure but you know that Spencer handles most of your paperwork."

"But you know I hate paperwork!"

Spencer, the tall blonde, chuckled. "Well, he does it when he wants to."

Tala turned to Kai. "Help me here!"

Kai, the two-toned haired male, rolled his eyes. "Face it, Red. The last time we left you with paperwork, we nearly incurred penalties and nearly got caught for tax evasion because of you."

"Kai! Not helping!"

"Was I supposed to?"

Tala frowned. Just when he needed his brothers to support him, they decided to be snarky. He scowled before turning to the leader of the squad who had a ghost of a smirk curved up his lips.

The smaller soldier nodded. "Levi."

The red-headed male blinked. _Levi_? He glanced at his brothers who nodded. He remembered hearing that name once or twice. _What kind of person though names their kids after a brand of jeans?_ He pursed his lips and then looked at Levi. Despite Levi being a head shorter than him, he saw the scars and wrinkles on his hands. He looked straight into Levi's eyes and saw the kind of eyes he had seen all his life: the eyes of a killer. _Kind of reminds me of Kai too_, he thought.

"Huh, I've heard that name. Levi, Humanity's Strongest Soldier."

"How'd you know that?"

"Heard it around the wall."

Levi narrowed his eyes. "So, you've seen the city."

"A bit but not really. So, what are you here for?"

"We're here on patrol."

"Patrol? Wouldn't you need a bigger team?"

"That depends. We were sent to kill out some stragglers."

Tala nodded. "And if it's a team this small, I'm assuming you guys are an elite team." He looked over to see the other members of Levi's team. "So, these are your members."

Levi nodded. "The best. Likewise, with yours. That begs the question: what are you?"

Tala nodded and folded his arms. "Well, we're a little more complicated than you think." He waved his hand, causing the other members to back off. "We're wondering what you guys are also."

Before Levi could continue, they heard loud thumps echoing through the forest. Tala's ears perked up as he looked up to sniff the air. His hairs stood on ends and he saw the looks on his brothers' faces. He glowered. _Titans are coming,_ he thought. He looked at the members of Levi's team, seeing each of their builds. _Three experienced ones_, he thought. He looked at the female member. _She's probably known for how flexible she is in a situation. She's small, fast, and can probably squeeze in corners the guys can't_, he thought. However, he could tell that the wide-eyed, black-haired boy who stood behind the female member was new. His weapons barely had scratches and his stance looked awful.

"On the second thought, let's discuss things upstairs." Tala beckoned Levi and his team to follow him. "We have a couple of hostiles incoming."


	2. Cut to the Chase

Levi followed Tala deeper into the forest with his brothers. But what he was surprised by was how quickly they cleared the obstacles. While he and his team needed the 3D Maneuver Gear to jump from branch to branch, they quickly jumped towards them as if they were just walking along. They barely broke a sweat, even the big one who he assumed was heavy was almost as fast as he was.

He looked back and saw Eren's hands twitching. Eren's eyes shifted around whereas Petra, Oluo, Gunther, and Eld had mixed expressions as to what was going on. Sweat trickled down Petra's temple. Oluo glowered slightly at the other males and Gunther and Eld were more focused on the young men to see if anything was going to happen.

"Don't worry." Levi looked forward to see Tala slowing his pace up to his. "Our place is not too far."

Levi nodded when he saw that Tala made a sudden stop and began climbing a set of steps. Levi blinked. _Where did those steps come from?_ He shook his head. He had been to the forest a lot of times but this was the first time he saw a flight of stairs climbing up the tree! Soon, the other young men followed suit and climbed up the tree.

"Relax." He heard Tala holler from above. "The steps will hold you up. If it can hold Spencer, it'll hold you."

Levi nodded and turned to his team. "Let's head up."

Eren gulped. "Are you sure we can trust them?"

Oluo scowled. "Yeah, that asshole" – referring to Bryan – "slugged me!"

Levi rolled his eyes. "Well, I made the wrong call to engage them. They were only protecting their own and killing the titans."

Eld narrowed his eyes. "Levi-_heichou_, did you know these people were here?"

"No. More like Erwin did." Levi frowned and looked up where they climbed. _Why didn't I notice this when I was scouting here?_

He brushed his hand against the steps made on the tree. The carving was intricate and perfect. It was made to keep intruders out but also made on a practical note to help them get in. Each step formed a stake to prevent titans from climbing up the trunks. He could see that some of the stakes had been worn out. _Possibly from titans trying to get them_, he thought. He then began to climb up the steps that led to the higher parts of the tree, followed by his team behind him.

Much to his surprise, he saw two silver blurs rush past him. He staggered back when they rushed their way up while he managed to stop and catch himself.

"Sorry about that, Bryan and Kai are probably racing." Tala chuckled.

Levi shook his head. "Where?"

"Where what?"

"Where did they even get that speed?"

"Like I said, we're a complicated bunch."

Levi nodded stiffly and when they finally got upstairs, he then saw something he had never seen before.

Amongst the tree tops, there were small houses and one large room in the middle. There were bridges and even something to catch water. His eyes widened. How could he have missed such a big development in the tree tops? Then again, scouting teams never did reach the tree tops. All they had to do was check the forest below, see if there were any titans roaming about. But the existence of a place like this explained why there were less titans. They already built a defense system to kill any incoming titan just by the stairs alone.

"Come on in." Tala beckoned before whistling. "Blitzkrieg, gather!"

_Blitzkrieg? That's a word I hadn't heard before_, Levi thought. There were so many things happening all at once. First, he met five soldiers who could clear an entire group of titans. They literally shredded his team without a single thought. Or, they could have shredded them but stopped on Tala's orders. Now, he was seeing a fully functioning village above the tree tops with a defense system against the titans. He even saw what appeared to be a spear that would drop from a certain height to cleave off the nape of a titan.

"Where did they get the brains to make this place?" Oluo gawked. He pointed to a strange contraption. "Hell, what the heck is that thing?"

Levi turned towards the contraption that Oluo had pointed to. It looked like a large bowl attached to multiple levels of layers. He then saw a large tank filled with fresh water. _Unbelievable,_ he stared at the intricate workings. He didn't expect them to build a tank full of water. He even noticed some weird spinning metal disk at the top of their roofs with a strange needle sticking out from it. _What in the world is that_, he thought.

"I'm guessing you've never seen a radar or a satellite before." He heard Tala say.

He turned to see Tala in front of him, chuckling. "It's limited in range though. We only go as far as 300 meters because we don't have much energy to make it bigger. But come on, let's meet up in the common room."

Levi nodded and beckoned his team to follow him. As his team followed him, they entered a large room in the middle of the forest rooftop. Once they entered, lights suddenly flashed on where they saw a bunch of bean bags, a window-like contraption, and some other strange contraptions lying on the ground. Levi crouched down and picked up one of them, noticing they were something that could be worn on the ear.

"That's one of our earpieces. We use that to communicate with each other." He heard someone explain.

He looked around before someone tugged his jacket. It was then he looked down to see the smallest member of the black hoods with his palm open.

"Gonna need that back. It's still not working."

Levi gave him the "earpiece" while the smallest member gathered the other strange gadgets and placed it on a table.

"Come on, don't be shy. We don't bite." Tala plopped down on one of the beanbags while his other brothers found their places to sit on the floor. "The beanbags are great."

Levi gestured his team to follow as they all sat down on the bean bags. He nearly yelped as the bag seemingly swallowed him up as he sank into the chair. _I've never felt a chair this soft_, he tried to position himself properly but with extreme difficulties.

"Oh that's probably Spencer's beanbag. It's a little squishier since he's heavier." Tala chuckled. "Kinda have to blame his genetics."

Eren blinked. "Genetics?"

"What? You've never heard of genetics before?" The thistle haired male raised an eyebrow. "Didn't anyone teach you what you were made of?"

Eren shook his head.

"You're fucking joking. You've never heard of genetics."

"Judging from the looks on their faces, they've never seen a lot of their equipment, Bryan." Tala leaned forward from the beanbag, resting his chin on his propped-up hands. "As is, they don't know what a satellite dish is."

The thistle haired male gawked. "Are you shitting me?"

"Didn't you see their faces? It's kind of obvious."

Eld shook his head. "Forgive us but, all this is a lot to take in."

"It's fine." Tala waved his hand dismissively. "The moment you even didn't know what Russians were, we already figured that there were _a lot_ of things you didn't know." He then chuckled. "So, let me start off with a small introduction: My name is Tala Valkov, I'm the leader of the Blitzkrieg group."

Eren blinked. "Blitzkrieg?"

"It means _lightning_ in German."

"German?"

"It's another language."

Seeing Eren nod slowly, Tala continued. "We're a group of mercenaries that take on… _peculiar_ jobs."

"Peculiar jobs?" Petra raised her eyebrow.

"Jobs that can be… morally questionable."

"That's not exactly comforting to know."

"Well, there are some lines we don't cross. But the only line we've crossed is actually killing things."

Seeing Tala more relaxed perplexed Levi. How could the red-head be so calm despite everything? He just welcomed strangers into his home. His brothers didn't look like they had any signs of fear either. In fact, the smallest member seemed to be just lying around. The one Tala called Bryan just leaned against the wall. The big blonde sat next to Tala and the one with bright red eyes sat next to Tala. But he noticed, all of them seemed to have abandoned their weapons. They even gave their names freely without any hesitation. _Unless_, he thought.

"You're _that_ confident you can kill us." Eld narrowed his eyes at Tala. "Aren't you?"

The moment Eld said that, the room fell silent with a chill. Levi nodded. Eld had a point; why else would they be so calm? He searched the room to realize that Tala and his members already have identified possible weapons should they need to eliminate them.

The red-head shrugged. "Well, think what you want. But if you want to be paranoid then, sure."

Eld remained silent.

"No need to be so stiff. But you are right. After all, we're not originally swordsmen. We've done all sorts of combat. We've just learned how to use a sword to kill things bigger than you and me."

Levi watched Eld shift uneasily in his seat. While he counted on Eld for his straightforward and calm thinking, he could see that the blonde didn't like being cornered. After all, who wouldn't feel that while being surrounded by a group of people who could kill them on sight without any evidence left behind?

"Anyway, so my name's Tala. The one with a maniacal grin is Bryan, the one with blood red eyes is Kai, tall, muscular and blonde is Spencer, and Ian's the smallest member of the team." Tala folded his arms with a grin, leaning back into his bean bag. "Names?"

Levi nodded. "Levi Ackerman." He turned to his members. "Give them your names."

Petra weakly shivered. "Petra Rall."

Eren beamed. "Eren Jeager."

"Eld Gin."

"Gunther Schultz."

"Oluo Bossard."

Levi then turned to Tala. "So, getting back to business: where are you guys from?"

Tala beamed. "Glad you asked! We're from a place called Russia. It's a place pretty far out from here. To get here, you need a fast ship. From where we're from, it would take at least a week on ship to get here. If it were a plane, around the same time but more expensive."

Eren blinked. "There's a harbor out here? And where is that?"

"Yeah, it's all the way out there. Like, beyond?" Bryan sniggered until he saw the shocked expression on Eren's face. "What? Never seen the sea before?"

Eren shook his head.

"You're joking! Where the hell have you morons been all your life?"

"Easy on the insults, Bryan." Tala waved his hand. "We don't know how thick-skinned these people are. If we trigger a fist fight, it's going to be a bloody one. I know you; you play for keeps."

Bryan stuck out his tongue at Tala. "Spoilsport."

Spencer glared at Bryan. "Hey, behave. We're not here to start a fight."

"Tch, fine."

"_Anyway_." Tala turned back to Levi. "As we've mentioned, we're super soldiers turned mercenaries."

Petra nodded. "So, we've heard. You've killed people before?"

"If you're definition of _people_ is humans then, yes we have. But they're the minority now compared to what other things we've dealt with."

Bryan smirked. "We've dealt with creatures twice the size of Titans and smarter too. Oh, did we forget that they're sentient and they eat people? We call 'em _Yoma_."

Eren gulped. "There are worse monsters out there?"

"There always are and will always be. And there are more of us out there who aren't as _nice_ as us."

Gunther narrowed his eyes. "So, what are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to hunt someone who's part of creating those creatures. His name is Travis Brake. He's a big time biogenetic-terrorist."

"A what and a what…?"

"A biogenetic terrorist? You know, the kind of guy who inflicts terror by creating weird creatures that shit on people?"

Levi nodded. "And you think he's created Titans?"

"We think so." Tala nodded. "After all, Russia started getting some of them and according to our sources, they're come from here."

"That explains why you're here."

"Yeah and we found out that there's a city. Right now, we're just trying to find a way in."

"You could have just snuck your way in."

"We thought about that. But think about Bryan and tell me we can sneak in."

Bryan let out a disgruntled snort. "Hey! How is it my fault!?"

Kai smirked. "You have the shortest fuse, the loudest gun, and the most brutal way of killing."

"That's everything that I am!"

"Exactly. I just gestured to _all of you_."

"Fuck you."

Spencer sighed. "Anyway, so that's one of the reasons why we haven't tried sneaking in."

"That and he's more trained than a regular scientist. According to our sources, he's a trained former NAVY SEAL who graduated with a Biology Degree and a Master's Degree in Microbiology. So, he would definitely change his name if he knows something's up."

Levi nodded. "If that's the case then, we have a proposal for you."

Tala raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Levi's whole team stared at him, gawking. "What?"

Levi bit his lower lip. Now that he was looking at them, he recalled the files he got from Erwin. _He must've known_, he thought. Did Erwin know however that they had their own motives? Did he know what exactly they were? But one look at their weapons and their fighting style was good enough for him to assess what could possibly happen. With Bryan's brutal speed, he would have ripped everyone else apart. He didn't know about the others but he assumed they were just as brutal.

"What if we helped you find this _terrorist_ you were looking for?" He proposed. "I'm assuming that the only place you haven't checked is the city."

Tala nodded slowly. "And how do you propose we get into the city?"

Levi glanced back at his team and then remembered the files Erwin gave him. He didn't give him those files for no reason. _Did he know that these people were from beyond the island?_ He thought. While he did wonder sometimes if there were people beyond the island, it was his first time ever encountering someone from another island or another world. And from what he saw, they were better equipped than they were to kill titans. According to Tala, there were more of them out there. Creatures far worse than titans known as _yoma_. A shiver ran down his spine. He already could slaughter titans but he still didn't forget the fear that seized him when he first saw a creature, he thought he couldn't kill.

"We'll play the story that you're a bunch of refugees from Shigashina." Levi pulled out the map and pointed out the area to them. "We'll say that you've managed to survive for so long with the remaining resources."

"That won't explain why we have bigger and nastier guns though." Kai folded his arms and looked at the map. "Your equipment looks like it belongs in a museum."

Levi frowned. "Unfortunately, that's all we're provided."

"Hasn't anyone even bothered finding a more efficient way to at least defend themselves?"

"That, we're not sure of. You could offer some input."

"That's assuming they even have the materials." Ian stroked his chin. He then turned to Tala. "So, what do you think?"

Tala nodded. "But what's the catch? You're obviously not just going to let us in."

"You'll be made to go through military training. From there, you can choose: you can choose to live either as a commoner or go on as a soldier." Levi folded his arms. "But judging the look on your faces, I highly doubt you're just going to kick back and relax."

Spencer nodded. "We're there to find Travis Brake. And as far as we know, being a soldier is the best way to go around it." He then chuckled. "Besides, Bryan? Him being common folk? That's hilarious."

Bryan scowled. "What? And you guys think Tala's the perfect example?"

Tala grinned. "That's because I'm always loveable no matter what!"

"Yeah says the one who can tear a building in seconds!"

"I'm not the one who blows up mansions!"

"At least I don't trigger security systems!"

Kai shook his head. "The point is, we have to learn how to live with them. And you two have the shortest fuses."

Ian nodded. "Yeah, remember the last mansion Kai owned? You two blew it up."

Tala pouted. "But it'll be different this time! This is _official_ business. We'll be fine."

Spencer turned to Bryan. "You okay with that?"

"As long as I don't have to eat vegetables anymore and be vegan." Bryan wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I can feel my brain cells dying from the lack of protein."

"That, and it's hard to procure multi-vitamins in this place." Kai stood up from his corner. "If we're going there, we have to set up."

Tala nodded. "Alright." He then turned to Levi. "So, we'll go with your little plan. We'll enter the city as refugees. Then, a few days later, we'll sign up for the military. We can't have things happening too fast. It'll look suspicious."

Eld raised an eyebrow. "I do have a question: if we do manage to bring them in, how are we going to make sure that the Supreme Court doesn't get to them first? All citizenship processing goes through them."

"We'll do it as we go along." Oluo waved his hand dismissively. "Besides, I can go with them. I need to renew some things anyway."

Levi nodded and stood up. "Then, we better get ready. We only have a small window until the titans come out to play again."

"Agreed. They only travel in sunlight." Tala signaled his teammates. "Get ready to move. We're going to have to bring everything we can."

"But what about my laboratory?" Ian gawked. "We can't just leave our tech lying around."

"Bring what you can. Most of the schematics are in your head, right?"

"More or less. Doesn't mean it's going to be fun recalling all that information."

Tala turned to Kai. "Kai, use that memory of yours. Store all that up and replicate it when we get to the city."

Kai nodded while Tala turned to the others. "The rest of you, gather whatever weapons we may need and bring the _Donnern_."

Levi blinked. "The _Donnern_?"

Tala smirked. "You'll see."


	3. To the City

Once Levi and the rest of his team walked out of the common room, Tala looked at his brothers and then at the door. Benefits-wise, Levi and his team looked like they had more benefits to reap from them than they did from them. After all, he had gotten a good glimpse of their weaponry and their combat level against humans. And from what he saw, even Ian with a flu could walk all over them without problems.

"Everyone, get ready. We're about to infiltrate a city." He turned to his brothers. "You guys okay with this?"

"If it means we'll get things accomplished faster and we get to go home, I'm good." Spencer nodded. "I'm more concerned though about how this team managed to find us."

"Based from what I saw, I don't think it was them who initially found our activities." Kai folded his arms. "But that aside, this seems to be our best chance to find our target."

Bryan nodded. "I don't like working with others either. But I'd really like to stop munching on leaves and branches for food."

Tala turned to the smallest member of his team. "How about you, Ian?"

Ian shrugged. "Same. Eating leaves and branches makes me feel like my brain is dying. But what do they need us to do?"

"Probably what we've been doing. Killing Titans."

"Can't they do that themselves?"

"They look pretty short on manpower if they're hiring kids to join the army."

"You mean Eren?"

"Yeah, that guy looks like he hasn't learned how to eat with a spoon."

Bryan chuckled while raising an eyebrow. "So, what's the plan, Red? Are we really going to go with Captain Shorty's plan?"

"If you guys have any better plans, I'm open to suggestions." Tala raised his hands up in surrender. "We could try infiltration but the travel time from here to there's too long."

"We're wasting more time as is by just sitting our asses here," Kai added. "If we don't move, he could head into another country and cause more problems."

Spencer nodded. "Agreed. We may as well work with them. We can use the opportunity to resupply as well. We're running low on bullets. And if they have some raw materials to work with, we can replenish our own stock."

Tala beamed and clapped his hands together. "Then, it's settled. We're working with them."

Ian raised an eyebrow. "I thought you already told Captain Shorty that we're working with them?"

"Not really. It was just assurance. But other than that, the blonde already knew that we didn't really need them to begin with."

"He's a little annoying, that guy."

"Well, he's doing what he does best: play devil's advocate. Someone has to do that in a team to keep them all on their toes."

Ian shrugged and began picking up his tools. "I'll start gathering my tools. You guys better get your weapons. Because from what this looks like, it's a one-way trip."

Tala nodded and made his way to his room outside the common room. As he walked outside and headed to his room, he looked at the whole treehouse village they had made for themselves. All of it had been constructed by wood and the leftovers of their kills. He brushed his hand against the pillars of his hut where he stayed. _I'm going to miss this place_, he thought.

He pushed the door to his hut open where he had a bed, his own bathroom, and his weapons. His claymore that he had used a while ago lay against the doorframe. Bags filled with other weapons were just thrown aside along with some of his essentials. As he began packing his things, thoughts began to fill his mind. How did those soldiers survive with such mediocre weapons? _They could have done more without using so much manpower_, he thought.

"Nowadays, everyone uses guns, tanks, and other weapons. I've heard of bio-terrorism but mostly of the disease kind." He stuffed a few more canisters filled with bullets in. "But to actually create monsters again, that's pretty old school sci-fi."

He looked at a shard of glass he had use for a mirror. Eyebags rested under his ice blue eyes. His red hair was matted with sweat and when he raised his arm to take a sniff from his armpit, he snorted in disgust. _That's one thing from this place I'm not going to miss_, he thought.

He then strapped his claymore to his back and then dragged his bag of weapons out the door.

Once he was out, he saw Ian and the rest with their gear. Ian had his rifle and claymore strapped to his back. Spencer had two claymores and two duffel bags. Bryan had two sacks of weapons plus his own claymore. Kai had his own gear all in a backpack, his side pouch with his own needles and blades.

"Everyone have their things?" Spencer checked his things once more. "Remember, we're not coming back here."

Ian nodded. "Got everything I need. Including" – he lifted up a big box that clattered around with a toothy grin – "my trusty tool kit." He pursed his lips. "I don't trust their tools."

"It's okay. I don't trust their weapons either." Kai shrugged. "You see that thing? It looked like a death trap."

"That would explain why they lose soldiers so quickly though." Bryan shook his head with a disgruntled snort. "You need a shit ton of balance and skill to make sure you actually can fly properly on that fucking thing."

Tala nodded. "Anyway, don't tell them what we know. Keep everything professional. Remember, we're just using them to find Travis Brake. Nothing more."

The other four members of the Blitzkrieg Boys nodded. "Roger."

"Good, now we better get down there. I think they've been whistling for their horses for the past unholy three hours."

* * *

Levi and the others waited downstairs for the Blitzkrieg Boys. While waiting, they already began preparing their horses to head back. At the same time, they noticed that even the trees had been carved in a certain way. They saw sharpened edges on the trees that looked like spikes. It wasn't only the one they had used as stairs but all the trees they had used to build their village.

"I can't believe it," Petra murmured as her fingers traced against the tree trunk. "They actually made the trees to be weapons themselves."

"That saved them a lot of manpower and time." Eld looked at the other trees, pointing to a long wire on the ground. "Look, they even have some sort of trigger mechanisms on the ground."

Eren gawked. "Where did they learn all these?" He began walking until Gunther grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. "Whoa!"

"Hold it!" Gunther pulled him away just in time. "Be careful!"

Eren blinked. "Huh?"

Gunther sighed and let go of Eren's jacket. He then squatted down to grab a fistful of soil. Once he had enough, he threw it towards the direction Eren was walking towards only to reveal shining hidden wires. The youngest member of the Special Operations Squad gulped nervously while backing away slowly from the wires.

"What are those?"

Levi approached the wires before running his finger against the wires. Suddenly, a pricking pain cut through his finger and forced him to pull back. Once he drew back, he saw that the wire had cut through his finger. He winced before plucking out his handkerchief and soaked up the blood that trickled out from the small cut. _Barbed wires_, he thought. _Why didn't the walled city think of using that?_

"Barbed wires. Stay away from them." Levi folded his handkerchief and put it back in his pocket. "This forest is laden with their traps. Keep a sharp eye."

Petra looked around in amazement. "They made this forest a death trap for titans."

"That would possibly explain the sudden cull in numbers. Titans normally hide here which makes it hard for us to track them down."

"But how did they manage to build this all in a short time?"

"That's what I want to know. Five people can't build something this fast."

"Unless, you have three engineers that specialize in machines, materials, and math," a cheeky voice came from above them.

The whole Special Operations Squad looked up to see Ian and the rest of the boys coming down from a lift. Eren gawked at the sight of the lift while Levi looked on in amusement. Eld and the rest of the squad had their jaws hanging out like Eren was as they slowly got off the lift with all their things.

"So how are you guys traveling back?" Tala put down his things and raised an eyebrow.

"We're traveling by horse." Levi then turned to Gunther. "Gunther, whistle for the horses, will you?"

Tala gawked. "Are you joking? What era are you guys from? The Dark Ages?"

"The what?" Eren blinked in surprise.

"You know, the ages where people died by a disease from rats?"

"Rats can carry disease?"

Levi rolled his eyes, quickly cutting the younger member off before he sounded more stupid. "Yes, Eren. They can." He then turned to Tala. "We can't bring all your gear. Our horses can't bring all of that back."

Bryan guffawed and shook his head. "Who the fuck said we're going to ask your little ponies to carry our shit? That's crazy talk. We're bringing our rig."

Levi raised an eyebrow. "Your rig?"

Ian grinned. "Yeah, we have a rig."

The Special Operations Squad exchanged looks with one another with bewilderment clearly written on their faces. Even with his time spent underground, Levi had never seen what they had called a "rig". The moment they started exchanging glances with one another, it was the other team's turn to stare at them, admonished and slack-jawed.

"Hold up, you're telling me you've never seen a rig in your life?" Bryan gawked, first to break the silent. "Where the fuck have you guys been living under? A fucking rock?"

"It would make sense, Bry." Kai looked around. "If they had rigs and other kinds of vehicles, the air wouldn't be as fresh."

"Fair point but ours is an electric rig and we've been using sunlight to power the shit out of it."

"That's true but consider their technology, what makes you think they even know what the hell solar energy is?"

Everything was becoming too much to process for the Special Operations Squadron. First, they saw a tree base located at the very top of the forest. Second, the base had housed five Levi-grade (they had no other way to grade them other than base it on Humanity's Strongest) soldiers that wielded a variety of weapons they had never seen before. And finally, they were hearing so many new terms. What in the world was a rig? What is solar energy? Did it come from titans? They had so many questions but had no idea where to start!

"_Anyway_," Tala chuckled and beckoned the team to follow him. "If you'll follow us this way, you'll know what we're talking about."

As the Special Operations Squadron followed behind the Blitzkrieg Boys, Levi couldn't believe what they were talking about. As far as he knew, a car was something that just sounded strange. There were so many weird things they mentioned. As is, even their weapons were strange. He caught a glimpse of what looked like to be a rifle on Ian's back. It had a large tube mounted on top what he knew was the barrel with a black stock. All the shotguns he had seen back in the city had wooden stocks which made him wonder what in the world Ian's rifle was made of.

"We're here!" He heard Tala announce gleefully.

He snapped himself out of his thoughts and looked towards the thing that Tala had been pointing at. And fair enough, it was something that he had never seen before! While it did look like a carriage, it looked less like a box and appeared to be made of metal. While the parts looked like they just glued everything together, it somewhat made sense. There were no bridles to put the horses in anymore. It had wheels, and a weird snout up front with other intricate workings that he had never seen before.

"Behold, the _Donnern_!" Ian beamed with delight. "You may compliment my genius now."

Oluo gawked. "How in the world did you even build that thing?"

"It's kinda like shape-sorting but with a lot of trial and error." Ian grinned. "It took us awhile but after we made some small modifications, it works great!"

Gunther raised an eyebrow. "So, how does this even work?"

Bryan pulled out a set of keys. "All you need is keys and solar energy. After that, we can go anywhere. All I need to do is warm up the engine."

The whole special operations squad team watched Bryan walk towards the rig and open the door. He climbed into the "rig" and began to start it up. The engine groaned for a moment before letting out a short whirring sound. Suddenly, it coughed and chugged for a moment before not starting up at all.

"Ian, we have a problem. It ain't starting up." Bryan looked at the other buttons in the rig. "You sure you charged this thing yesterday?"

"Dude, we literally left it in the sun for a good 12 hours!" Ian opened the hood. "Lemme see what's wrong here."

The special operations squad watched a young boy smaller than Levi than him pull apart the strange machine. They watched Ian's small body stretch over under what looked like a hood. He began throwing all sorts of things from leaves, branches, rocks, and Levi could have sworn he saw chicken feathers. How in the world did chicken feathers end up in there?

"Oh shit, we have a problem." Ian looked up from the hood. "The converter's busted."

Bryan gawked. "Are you serious!?"

"Yeah, and the charging panels were covered with nothing but dust and dirt. Chances are it barely got a chance to charge."

"Well, we still have gas right?"

Eren blinked. "Wait, you can use gas to power a rig?"

"Yeah, depending on the engine, you can put any kind of gas." Spencer put down his things and began digging through his bag, pulling out a small pack. "I can make some additive. But that's not going to do much save for preventing the engine from conking out."

Ian turned to Bryan and Kai. "Your bikes, do they got any left?"

Kai raised an eyebrow. "If you mean gas then, yeah. I have a lot left. But not enough for a two-way trip."

"That's fine." Ian turned to Bryan. "Please tell me you still got gas."

"Not really. Had to Mad Max a couple of titans."

Ian turned to Tala, forcing out a smile. "Please tell me you didn't crash your motorcycle."

Tala gasped. "Ian, o ye of little faith! I didn't crash it!"

There was a sigh of relief from the small boy.

"But… I kinda burned it…"

"How the hell do you kinda burn a bike!?"

"The blood of the titan splattered on the gas tank!"

"And you're telling me it was hot enough to heat up gold!?"

"… Yes?"

Spencer shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Tala… please don't tell me it melted your gas tank. Gas tanks in racecars were made of gold so it would stay cool and not cause their engine to blow!"

Tala shrugged. "Well, it didn't completely melt…"

"But it partially melted…"

"Sort of?"

Kai shook his head. "I don't even want to see what your gas tank looks like…"

"Never mind. Gather all the gas we have left. We're filling this baby up." Ian turned to Spencer. "We're gonna need that additive."

Spencer tossed the small bottle to Ian. "Alright then."

Levi watched the team gather their remaining gas and poured it into what they called their rig. Ian then added the additive he got from Spencer. He nodded then at Bryan who tried to start it up. Soon, the car roared to life. The Special Operations Team jumped in surprise from the sound as the engine let out a low hum.

"Alright. We should be good." Ian sighed and closed the hood. He then brushed the dirt off the charging panel on top of the rig. "Hopefully, we can fix the engine when we get to the city."

Oluo raised an eyebrow. "So how does it work?"

"Press the pedal and steer the car." Bryan shrugged and slipped into the rig's front seat. "I'll be the one driving."

Tala then grabbed Bryan's arm. "Nope. I'm driving."

"Says who?"

"Says me! I'm the captain."

"If you're the captain, I would like to respectfully decline."

"Get off."

"No."

"I wanna drive!"

"Hell no! I don't wanna fucking die!"

Kai shook his head. "I'd rather walk than have Tala drive."

Tala pouted at Kai. "I'm not that bad a driver."

"Says the one who melted his motorbike."

"Titan blood melted it! How was I supposed to know that Titan blood was that hot?"

Spencer shook his head. "It's called Biophysics? It's the same reason why Godzilla cannot exist and why he's only the king on screen."

"But we've faced worse!"

Bryan rolled his eyes. "There is nothing worse than your driving, Tala."

"Meanie." Tala blew him a raspberry.

Spencer shook his head and then turned to the Special Operations Squad. "Well, you can choose. The rig can handle all of us and you can have your horses carry the rest of your things. Or, you can stick to riding your horses while we take the rig."

The Special Operations Squad exchanged looks with one another. While they all wanted to ride the rig for an experience, they didn't know how to say thing they had to worry about was the horses. They couldn't leave the horses outside. Even if the horses were rendered useless by the rig, it didn't mean they should abandon them.

"Have Eren ride with them." Levi beckoned Eren to ride with the Blitzkrieg Boys. "He's more important than the rest of us are right now."

The rest of the Special Operations Squadron agreed.

Eren blinked. "But what about you, captain?"

"I'm better on horseback. If anything, we're going to be the outer rim that guards this" – he twitched at the _Donnern_ – "thing in case it dies on the road."

Ian waved his hand dismissively. "Pshe, relax. It won't. As long as we don't have to drive like a mad man, right Bry?"

Bryan nodded. "We're not running from any titans at this point since it's dark out."

"Yeah but can never hurt to be careful." Spencer began setting up some of the rifles in the back. He turned to Levi and the others. "You guys know how to shoot on horseback?"

Levi nodded. "Fairly well."

"You, I have no problem. What about the others?"

Oluo scoffed. "We can do it. We're trained."

Eld nodded. "Most of our time was spent training to fight on horseback."

"So, similar to cavalry." Kai unfolded one of his weapons, revealing a bow. "Well, we'll see when we get out to field."

Tala pouted. "I still want to drive."

The Special Operations Squad saw the whole Blitzkrieg Team's expression darken as they glared at Tala.

"No means no."

"Fiiiine."

While the Blitzkrieg Team climbed in the rig, they made their way on horses. Eren on the other hand climbed inside the _Donnern_. Once the "rig" had begun to move, Levi and his team spurred the horses to follow after them. The _Donnern_ coughed for a bit before moving a bit slowly. They slowly exited the forest, finally making their way to the field under the bright moonlit night sky.


	4. Titan Road

From what he saw, the young men looked more to be a threat than the titans.

He had never seen guns like that in his life. Even as an underground brat, no one sported rifles like that. Ian's rifle looked like it could shoot up to 1000 meters away. And when he looked at how Ian handled his tools, he saw how steady his hands were. Imagine that rifle in his hands; he's probably so damn accurate, Levi thought.

Then, he recalled what Kai had in his hands. While it looked like any bow, he saw the quiver Kai sported. It didn't look like a run-in-a-mill wooden quiver. It had some slots which appeared to allow Kai to change arrowheads on the fly. Where in the world did these boys even get these?

But he recalled their expressions when they talked about their own equipment. The boys gawked in admonishment. Bryan even threw his head back and guffawed.

_Just how far back are we? _

He sighed and followed the _Donnern_ as they exited the forest. The truck slowly hummed along with the horses trotted next to the truck. He watched the wheels roll along and then looked at Bryan calmly steering the truck with Spencer looking through the map. He looked inside the rig through the small windows where he saw Kai hugging his bow against his chest while Tala had his claymore leaned against the shell of the truck. The red head sat near the front right behind Spencer and Bryan. Ian lay prone near the edge of the _Donnern_, setting up his rifle. As he continued to observe how they operated, he realized something.

_They're not ordinary soldiers. Are they?_

"Awww, why can't I sit in front?" Tala puffed up his cheeks, pouting. "I won't be noisy!"

Bryan rolled his eyes. "That's because you're going to start messing with the controls. And you can't even read a map!"

"Besides, I have to substitute for Bryan in case he gets tired."

Spencer smiled and ruffled Tala's red hair. "It's a pretty long travel from the forest to the city."

"But I can help drive!"

"And get us all killed? Red, no thanks. I'd rather ask Kai over you. The only reason why he doesn't drive is because we have Spence and I. Ian's too short and you're just goddamn awful."

Tala crossed his arms, sulking. "You suck."

"I'm keeping us alive, you dumbass. Now stop making a ruckus. Kai and Ian are doing scouting work. Go talk with Eren or something."

Tala puffed his cheeks before turning away from Bryan and Spencer. _But I'm booored, _he groaned to himself. Taking Bryan's advice, he scuttled over to his side of the corner. There, he saw Eren looking out the window. Much to his surprise, Eren didn't seem to be too surprised or amazed. Instead, he was just quietly taking in the view.

"So, this is your first time riding one huh?" Tala folded his legs and raised an eyebrow at Eren. "How do you find it?"

"It's so strange." Eren shook his head and turned to Tala. "I don't know how to explain it. But, I feel like I've rode these things before."

Now it was Tala's turn to be bewildered. "You have?"

"I know I never did. But… somehow, I did…"

"Maybe you rode a carriage?"

"I know what a carriage feels like. This is… different."

Bewildered, Tala saw the distant look in Eren's eyes. _Sounded like a case of déjà vu_, he thought. Was Eren an amnesiac? He pursed his lips for a moment until he saw a bright flare shoot into the sky. His blue eyes widened when he quickly crawled towards Kai.

"Blue, get up." Tala shook Kai awake.

Kai's eyes snapped open. "Hostiles?"

"A lot of them."

Eren's eyes widened, panicked. "What was that?"

Levi rode up alongside them. "We have bandits incoming!"

Tala then looked up ahead to see a whole group of horses whinnying. Men roared and spurred their horses to gallop faster as they closed in on the truck. Once he saw the blazing torches, he clucked his tongue and turned to Ian.

"Ian, shoot 'em down!" Tala quickly grabbed his claymore. "Kai, assist!"

Kai loaded up his arrow on his bow. "Sheesh, he makes it sound easy."

Ian rested his cheek on his gun, pressing the stock against his shoulder, chuckling. "Why? I thought it was simple geometry."

"Fuck you, and fuck whoever told you that you were funny."

"Hey, it's not my fault you're a Hanzo main!"

"I'm not a Hanzo main! You are!"

"Of course not, I'm an Ana or Widowmaker main!"

"Will you two Overwatchers stop whining about your mains!? We got a shit ton of hostiles and you guys are just harping! And last I checked; Kai's a Moira/Mercy main!" Bryan floored the accelerator, yelling over the roaring engine. "You two better not miss!"

Kai scoffed. "Yeah, yeah, quit your whining." He pulled back his bow and fired a shot.

One bandit fell. Ian shot another one. As the horses panicked from their fallen riders, Kai swapped arrowheads and fired his arrow straight to the ground. Once it hit the ground, it let out another group of tiny arrows that shot the riders off their horses. One more bandit fell from Ian's shot before he quickly began to reload.

"Where the hell did these guys come from?" Ian shot another bandit down. He then saw Tala holding his claymore. "Uh dude, don't tell me you're gonna charge into them are you!"

Tala quickly turned to Bryan. "Bryan, slow down! I'm gonna chop these bandits down!"

"Are you a fucking idiot!? What the hell are you going to use!?"

"My sword, you moron!"

"Let the Spec Ops Team handle that! We can shred those that are coming up from behind!"

Tala clucked his tongue and turned to the incoming bandits. _Damn it,_ he grumbled while listening to the growls of the engine. He could feel the whole rig shuddering from the sudden flood of gas. The battle cries of the bandits became louder as he sheathed his claymore. He quickly grabbed his bag before pulling out a small cylinder in his hand. He then pulled the tag and threw it out of the car.

Eren blinked. "Do I even want to know what that is?"

Tala grinned when something suddenly exploded, taking out five of the bandits. "An incendiary grenade."

"Damn it, Tala! Did you have to kill the horses?" Kai fired another shot. "What is it with you and razing everything to the ground?"

Tala let out a disgruntled snort. "That's real rich coming from someone who has a phoenix for a guardian spirit, Blue!"

"Can it, Red! I'm trying to focus! At least get the horses for additional resources!"

Tala shook his head and then turned to Spencer. "Spence, I'm gonna see if I can take one of their horses!"

Spencer gawked. "Tala, are you serious!? You don't have that kind of balance!"

"Of course, I do! I took ballet!"

"Yeah, for three hours!"

Tala scowled and headed towards the edge of the rig. "I'm gonna take one of their horses!"

Kai gawked. "Tala, you idiot! Don't –"

With that, the red head leaped off the rig and landed right on one of the horses of the bandits. The bandits yelped in surprise as Tala quickly decapitated the nearest ones. The horses whinnied and reared up in a panic and threw off other riders, stomping on them with their hind legs. Tala's horse neighed and bucked around, kicking another rider off his horse. Tala quickly grabbed the reins and redirected the horse to attack another bandit only to have that bandit's head sliced in half. Blinking in surprise, he saw Levi join him in the fray with the other members of the Special Operations Squad.

"Where were you guys!?" Tala rode up next to Levi. "By the way, nice kill."

Levi rolled his eyes. "We had to make sure they didn't surround the rig. But there didn't seem to be a need. Kai and Ian are pretty good marksmen."

"They're the best of the best. They never miss."

"They probably have."

"Meh, maybe a few targets that they don't regret hitting."

Levi shook his head. "Anyway, how's the rig holding up? It sounds like a metal rust bucket with a flu!"

"Well, that's kinda what it is?" Tala shrugged. He then looked forward. "How far are we from the city?"

Levi shook his head. "We shouldn't be too far. We're almost close."

Suddenly, they both heard sputtering. The muffler of the rig suddenly began coughing out bluish white smoke. Tala's eyes widened. _Shit, the engine's about to blow_! He quickly spurred the horse forward towards Spencer and Bryan who were steering the car.

"Bry, the engine's on its last leg!" Tala pointed to the bluish white smoke rising from the hood. "We're not gonna make it!"

Bryan looked at the hood and shook his head. "The hell are you talking about? Of course, we are!" He then turned around. "Ian, go out there and fix the engine!"

Ian gawked. "Are you fucking insane!? You can't fix an engine while a rig is running!"

"It's now or never!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we're going to be blown to bits _now_!"

"Just do it! We're almost a kilometer away from the city!"

Sighing, Ian shook his head and turned to Eren. "You know how to shoot?"

Eren nodded. "Yeah."

"With a scope?"

"A what?"

"Ugh, never mind! Just shoot whatever gets close to you!"

Eren quickly took the gun from Ian while he began digging out the materials he needed. He pulled out his tackle box and some tools before climbing over the seats. Once he got over, he then crawled his way out to the hood of the car. Ian slowly crawled over before pulling the hood open to reveal a sputtering and struggling engine. A bluish white smoke rushed up to Ian's face as he waved it away.

"Okay!" Ian began checking the engine. "Good news: our radiator is the one's that's busted! Bad news, our engine's gonna be next if we don't fix this now!"

"Not even a remedy?"

"Remedy, yes but we can't completely repair the _Donnern_! It may as well be junk after this!"

"Do what you can, Ian!"

Ian grumbled before sticking his nose into the engine. He began taking out some nuts and bolts, pulling out some wires, flipping some switches, and unscrewing the cap to the radiator. Once he saw the smoke hissing out of the radiator, he pulled out a small bottle of coolant that he had from his box before pouring it in. After that, he got his water jug and filled the radiator with his water. Once he poured it in, the engine stopped coughing and choking but the gears continued to crunch and grind.

"Tala! We don't have much left with this thing! We might need to do horseback!" Ian grabbed his tool kit and pocketed it. "The _Donnern_ can't take another episode of Mad Max!"

Tala clucked his tongue and looked back at the bandits following them. Some were dropping one after the other but not as fast since Eren didn't seem to know how to use Ian's rifle. He saw the rest of the Special Operations Squad taking them down, leaving the horses behind. Tala's eyes widened when he saw a bandit come up at Bryan's window, trying to stab him with a pitchfork.

"Bry, 3'o clock!"

Bryan shook his head and pulled out one of his sawed-off shotguns from his feet, shooting the man's head without even looking. "Everybody knows always keep a shotgun during high intensity car chases."

"Yes but not everyone keeps a shotgun like you, Bryan." Spencer flipped open one of the switches. "I'm turning off the aircon to lessen the load on the power."

"Go ahead."

"I can take it from here. You look like you're itching for a fight."

When Spencer said that, Bryan smirked at the big blonde. "I thought you'd never ask!"

"Now get out there and floor their asses."

Bryan swapped seats with Spencer, climbing onto the roof of the _Donnern_ with both his shotguns in hand. He looked on at the incoming bandits with a dark grin before running towards them and leaping. He leaped over before kicking a bandit in the face and taking his horse. The bandit he kicked fell to the ground, crushed by the hooves of the horses while Bryan had the time to shoot them down.

Tala shook his head at Spencer. "I thought we were keeping him on anger management!"

"Consider this a healthy way of releasing his anger."

"He's killing people –"

"— who are trying to kill us. There is a slight difference."

Ian chuckled. "Don't you just love moral grayness?"

"Not exactly my kind of thing, Ian!"

Ian rolled his eyes before looking at the radiator again. He hovered his hand over the engine, noticing that the bluish white smoke had disappeared. He beamed in delight and slammed down the hood before wriggling his way back into the rig's front seat.

"The radiator's fine. But I don't think the engine is." Ian shook his head before clambering over to the back where his rifle was. "This may be the _Donnern_'s last run."

Nodding, Spencer then floored the accelerator then. "Then let's make this run the best one it's ever had!"

Suddenly, the _Donnern_ roared to life and lunged forward. Ian yelped and tumbled down while Kai got thrown around. Bryan stumbled around before falling flat on the _Donnern's_ roof. Tala's eyes widened when he saw the truck suddenly roar forward, leaving a whole trail of dust and smoke behind it.

"Looks like the truck is on it's last leg." Tala rode up next to Levi. "We better make sure nothing gets near that thing."

Levi nodded. "I'm surprised you even know how to ride horseback."

"Well, we were forced to learn. Not exactly my thing."

"Huh, where did you learn?"

"When you have someone like Kai, learning things isn't that hard especially when he has the resources."

Levi nodded. "So, he knows how to ride a horse?"

"Better than any of us. He's the only one who could ride bareback with a bow and arrow in hand. Oh, rule still applies: _he never misses_."

"Do you think we'll make it?" Petra shuddered with a wary glance at the rig. "It looks like it's about to just stop."

Tala nodded. "As long as the radiator doesn't die, we're good."

Kai dropped back onto the rig as he saw more bandits running alongside them. He quickly pulled out some knives and threw it at them. It went straight through their heads as Kai chuckled. He didn't expect that many bandits in the area but he was just smirking to himself.

"I now pronounce you man and knife," he chuckled dryly.

Other bandits fell back with Levi, Oluo and, Petra taking driving them off. Eld and Gunther guarded the rig until they finally made it to the capital. The rig huffed and puffed before stopping right in front of the gate. When the other bandits chasing them got there, they suddenly blown up when everyone looked up. Above them, they saw multiple cannons mounted on the wall with soldiers pointing their guns at them.

"Who are you?!"


End file.
